The present disclosure relates to the selection and display of online content.
The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources. For example, video and/or audio files, as well as web pages for particular subjects or particular news articles, are accessible over the Internet. Access to these resources presents opportunities for content (e.g., advertisements) to be provided with the resources. The pairing of content with requested resources can generate value. For example, a web page can include content slots in which advertisements or other content can be presented. These content slots can be defined in the web page or defined for presentation with a web page, for example, in a pop-up window.
Content slots can be allocated to buyers based on agreements entered into by publishers of online resources and buyers, where the agreement requires that publisher allocate to the buyer at least a threshold number of content slots over a specified period. For example, a publisher can agree, for a fee, to allocate at least 1000 of its available content slots to a buyer that has paid the publisher $10. In turn, the publisher's content slots can be allocated to the buyer over the specified period until 1000 content slots have been allocated to the buyer. A publisher may enter multiple agreements committing content slots to different buyers. Buyers may have many different content items that they wish to pair with resources.